


Sword in the Stone

by Indus



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Disney Cartoons (Classic), Supernatural RPF
Genre: Arthurian, Community: j2_everafter, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-18
Updated: 2011-04-18
Packaged: 2017-10-18 08:36:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/186982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indus/pseuds/Indus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If you haven't seen the animated movie of the same name, think Once and Future King, Disney style, and then make it J2. We have Jensen!Arthur, Jeff!Merlin and Jared!Archimedes!Lancelot. Yes I took A LOT of artistic liberties, but this is a movie with a tiny cast. Pre-slash, because I saw this with kids I baby-sat for, and one of my favorite parts about the original movie is that there are no pairings in it (aside from the squirrels that make me cry).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sword in the Stone

Jensen could live with not being called by his first name. While he didn't think there was anything difficult or repulsive about "Jensen," he didn't mind going by Arthur, or Art, or even Artie. But _Wart_? Of course, he knew _why_ his foster father Sir Ector and Ector's son Kay called him that- they saw him as an annoying blemish in their otherwise smoothly running lives.

 

What crock! If it weren’t for him, nothing would run smoothly for those two men. Jensen cleaned, sorted, carried armor, and did everything but what he really wanted to do, which was train to be a squire. While he was with them ostensibly to learn the skills that Kay apparently already had (though personally he didn’t think Kay was a shining example of knighthood), they always seemed to find other work for them.

 

“Please Kay, take me with you!” He begged, knowing he was whining but unable to keep the syllables short and dignified.

 

Kay snorted. “Wart, go back and finish the dishes father left for you! You know he’ll be mad if you don’t do your chores. Besides, you always mess something up when you go hunting. Or when you do anything else, for that matter.”

 

Jensen frowned, but stayed silent. He knew he was occasionally a little clumsy, but who wouldn’t be in the garments they made him wear as a squire-in-training? Besides, he had to learn. Still, he knew that they had done him a great favor by taking him in and offering to train him as a squire; they could have just adopted someone to do housework without the carrot of training.

 

But about two minutes into washing dishes, his mind wandered and he found himself looking into the woods just beyond Sir Ector’s property. _It wouldn’t take that long, would it? To watch Kay bag a deer, and then rush back and finish the washing up?_ Jensen looked at the shadows cast by the trees, and judged that if he ran to Kay's hunting spot and gave the man an hour or so to kill something, he’d still be back in enough time to be done with chores before Sir Ector returned.

 

Putting his mind to it, he snuck out the door and into the woods. It wasn’t hard to find Kay; the heavy-set blond man stomped through the forest so loudly it was surprising he ever caught anything at all. Jensen crept quite close to his foster brother and when the man set up shop near a little watering-hole, he scrambled up a tree and situated himself overhead to watch Kay hunt.

 

It wasn’t long before a lovely, graceful deer came to quench her thirst, and Jensen’s heart ached a little to think of eating the beautiful animal for dinner. It wasn’t that he was against eating animals; he simply preferred eating creatures that weren’t quite so enthralling to watch.

 

But he was young and far too interested in the hunt itself to devote more than a passing thought to the unsuspecting victim, so he soon turned his attention back to Kay. His brother pulled out an arrow, put it to the bow and aimed…

 

And then what felt like a very small boulder crashed onto him from above, as if a higher power had intervened to save the deer's life.

 

Jensen had leaned too far, and gravity had done its job. He fell out of the tree and right onto Kay, just as the young man was releasing the arrow. His aim thrown off, the arrow pierced the very edge of Kay’s hat and then flew up into the tree, taking his beloved hunting hat with it.

 

“Wart!”

 

Jensen gulped. “ I’ll get your hat back, I will. Don’t worry about a thing, Kay.” He shimmied back up the tree before his brother’s rather quick hand could land on his shoulders or ear. Since the arrow had gone up at a bit of an angle, he went out on a branch very high up to get a good view of the woods.

 

And as the branch broke under him, all he could think was _not again!_

*

 

Jeffrey looked at the youth sternly. “Jared Lancelot, what did you do wrong with this potion?”

 

Jared gulped, and blew his dark hair out of his eyes. “Um, I put in everything as you guided me, awesome and inspiring Master Magician, sir!”

 

“Sweet-talking me won’t work this time, Jared. Now go outside and gather up the ingredients, and we’ll do it together this time, so we can see where you went wrong.”

 

As the boy made to leave, Jeffrey stopped him with an outstretched hand. “Before you go, put a cushion right… there…” He pointed to a random spot in the middle of the floor, but Jared didn’t dare question him. He did as asked and then ran out.

 

It wasn’t long before the meeting Jeff had seen so many years ago came to pass, and it was odd and indicative of the relationship he would have with young Jensen Arthur, the boy who would be King.

 

*

 

Jensen smashed through Jeffrey’s roof and fell straight onto a cushion, where he bounced before landing on the hard floor. “Oof!” he cried, as the breath was knocked out of him.

 

“Hmm, I suppose that wasn’t the best idea,” the man in front of him said as he tapped his fingers against his cheek. “Maybe next time I should try a chair.” As Jensen’s balls tried to crawl into his body, he must have made a sound of horror because the man snorted and continued, “No, I can see where that would be painful too. Oh well, more cushions are the ticket!”

 

“Do you have a lot of boys falling through your roof, then?” Jensen asked, surprisingly brave for all that he could feel he was in the presence of someone a great deal more powerful than anyone else he had ever known.

 

His host laughed. It was a rich sound, and the flames in the fireplace seemed to crackle at the sound of it. “Well, one rarely knows when guests will _drop_ in, right?” He bent down to give the boy a hand, and offered him some tea. “I’m Jeffrey the Magician, you know, and I’ve been expecting you.”

 

As Jensen allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, he gazed at the table, set for two, and all of his favorite items for tea presented as if the host knew just what he liked. He didn’t know why, but he took the man’s invitation and sat down on a comfortable chair and listened as Jeffrey prattled on.

 

Until things started moving. He’d ignored the chair, sure the old man had pulled it closer to the table with his foot, but it was impossible to ignore the sugar bowl when it began to spoon its contents into his cup on its own, or the milk scamper across the table petulantly when called to duty. When he dropped a tiny piece of cake on the floor by accident, before he could bend down and pick it up a broom shot out of nowhere and swept the crumb away. His eyes opened wider and wider as objects he had been used to thinking of as inanimate moved in a way that showed their independence and personality.

 

He should have paid more attention to his host.

 

“Ouch!” Jensen rubbed his head, which had just been struck by a very heavy book.

 

“Have you heard a word I’ve said?” Jeffrey’s stern voice brought him back to his surroundings. It wouldn’t do to cross this man, Jensen realized. “Well, no matter, you’ll have plenty of time to listen while I train you.”

 

“Train me?” Jensen repeated blankly. “To be a squire, sir?” He was doubtful; Jeffrey was obviously capable of a lot of things, but somehow he doubted the powerful sorcerer had done anything as pedestrian as ride a horse for a very long time.

 

Jeffrey laughed again. “A squire? No, my boy, you’ve got a lot more in you than that, a lot more! Now, what time can you be in tomorrow?”

 

“Tomorrow?” Jensen asked blankly, his eyes lighting on a clock on the opposite wall. “Oh Morgan, I have to leave. I haven’t done my chores, and there will be hell to pay!” He ran out, ignoring Jeffrey’s protests, and sped down a path through the woods. On his way, he passed an owl sitting on a low branch, very much awake despite the fact that it was broad daylight.

 

The owl watched him go, and then flew into Jeffrey’s home. Morphing into a boy, he gazed up at the hole in the roof and calmly suggested patching it.

 

“Good idea, Jared,” Jeff said approvingly. “I’ll leave that to you.”

 

“Where are you going? Jared watched Jeff half-heartedly try to stuff a few things into a bag. “And why don’t you use magic, Jeff?”

 

Jeff glanced at the mess he’d made and shrugged. Rolling up his sleeves, he closed his eyes and waved his wand in the air for a few minutes, shouting some incomprehensible words that any wizard worth his salt knew made no difference in the casting of a spell at all. He just did it for dramatic effect. Jared sat back and watched as Jeff’s entire house formed a very disorganized line, flew around the room, shrunk to a miniscule size, and went into his bag. He’d never be a sorcerer like Jeff; he could morph into any creature he could think of but he could not cast spells and he was terrible at making potions. Still, he loved to watch magic in action.

 

And then he gasped as he realized that the cushion he was sitting on was moving too. And suddenly everything started to get bigger, or maybe he was getting smaller! In automatic defense, he shifted back into an owl, but he was already caught in the spell. With little more than a squack, he was put into the bag, which smelled musty but was somewhat comfortable and full of shrunken food. This wasn’t so bad, he thought, and settled down for the adventure that was sure to come.

 

*

Jensen hated being scolded, but he knew he deserved it. None of his chores were done, and he had lost the hat. Moreover, Kay and his father were reduced to eating leftovers because he had spoiled the hunt. He was just glad that he had  eaten at Jeffrey’s house; it looked as if all of Kay’s dogs were getting his share of dinner.

 

Sir Ector was in fine form, and he was only halfway through his rant when the door slammed open. Jeffrey, resplendent in fine robes, stood in the doorway with a small bag under his arm. “I have come to train the boy!” he announced.

 

Kay laughed as his father blustered. “Train him?” he jeered. “I’d like to see you try! The boy is incapable of learning anything.”

 

Jensen flushed, afraid that it was true. But it didn’t matter. Sir Ector was his guardian, and as he was telling Jeffrey, he wanted the boy to do his chores.

 

“And if I help him with his chores?” Jeffrey negligently waved his arms, and the dishes began to stack themselves up and move into the kitchen, where he could hear them being washed in the sink. The broom and mop zoomed into the dining hall and set to work quickly.

 

Sir Ector’s face turned purple, while Kay just gaped unattractively. “What is the meaning of this?”

 

Jeffrey leaned over, and his warm brown eyes seemed to glow an unearthly and unfriendly red. “I would just give in, you know. I’m capable of far more than these parlor tricks.”

 

Sir Ector believed him. “Take him to the tower room, Wart! And when you’re done with your chores, let him train you. But you’d better get your work done, or you’ll wish you were never born!”

 

“Yes sir,” the blond boy gasped, then ran out. He took Jeffrey up a spiral staircase that grew more crumbly as they went higher. “I’m sorry, sir, but your room is  a little drafty. And well, if it rains, I’ll bring you some buckets. The roof of Sir Ector’s house is a little run-down, and leaks in places.”

 

“Oh, don’t worry about that. A little water never hurt a wizard!”

 

He showed Jeffrey to a room, and before leaving, watched as the magician opened his bag and what seemed like his entire house flew out of it, including the owl he had seen on the path, which perched on the clock and watched him warily. Jeffrey, noticing his glance, told the owl to be polite. “Jensen’s never met a talking owl,” he said carefully. “Since you will be working together, you may want to stop preening and say hello, Jared.”

 

“Hello, Jared,” the owl said, no little annoyance in his voice.

 

Jensen had had so many surprises that day that the talking owl seemed the least of them. He politely greeted the owl and, suddenly sleepy and feeling that the owl was looking at him a little menacingly, he made to leave. Then, stopping at the door, he asked, “How do you mean to train me as a squire, sir? Should I get the wooden training post out in the morning?”

 

“Oh, we won’t be needing that, young man. I’ll come down and help you with your chores, and then we’re going to be off on our own,” Jeff answered.

 

Jensen nodded, confused, and went down the stairs. As soon as he had left, Jared turned back into his true self and turned his annoyance onto Jeffrey. “Why am I here? What are you up to? And how are you going to be doing my training if you’re doing his?”

 

“Don’t worry,” the magician said enigmatically. “I will be doing both. Now, here is what I want you to do.”

 

*

 

Then began the oddest period of his life that Jensen would ever know.

 

In the morning, Jeff would wave his wand and get started on whatever chores Sir Ector had ordered done that day, from polishing the armor to cleaning the stables. Then he would grab Jensen and pull him along to do things that had nothing, as far as the young boy could tell, to do with being a squire. Kay certainly did not know them. They often involved academic things like learning to read and write, using complicated and dusty old tomes. Oddly enough, the talking owl was dragged into learning them as well. At least Jared complained as much as Jensen did, not that it did either of them any good. But as time passed, he grew very fond of his fellow student and his teacher.

 

Sometimes, though, the lessons were magical and amazing and terrifying, all rolled into one. For instance, one bright day Jeff cast a spell and turned him into a bird. He took Jensen’s fluttering body and had Jared teach him how to fly. He was about to change him back when the wind blew the tower window open. Jensen, who thought flying was _amazing_ , could not resist.

 

At first, it was glorious, but then from nowhere a bird with giant talons appeared and made a grab for him! Used to avoiding Sir Ector and Kay’s meaty hands, Jensen dodged out of the way but he had not long been a bird, and he tired quickly. Spying a chimney that would be too small for the hawk chasing him, he tried to hide just inside it, overbalanced, and fell into someone’s fireplace. This was getting to be a habit.

 

“Well, what is this?” And old woman croaked. She was short and round, but her eyes were beady and not a little creepy. “Who have we here? Why, you’re not a bird at all, are you? This is powerful magic. In fact, I think I know this magician… Well, well, well. I think someone is going to be paying you and me a visit soon, Gen,” she told the cat that was watching Jensen as if he were her supper.

 

The witch, for she was a powerful one, conjured up a cage and put Jensen in it. While he wasn’t too happy about being a prisoner, he was somewhat grateful to be out of the reach of the nasty little cat. But as he sat there, he wondered what would happen when Jeff got there.

 

As it happened, he did not have to wait long. The door suddenly slammed open, and as Jensen wondered if Jeff knew any other way to make an entrance, the magician’s body blocked the light from outside. “Katherine, hand over the boy!”

 

“How about we duel for it?” She suggested with an evil little grin.

 

As Jared flew over to Jensen and, grabbing the cage, took them up into a nearby tree, Jeffrey and Katherine took their duel outside. Though Jensen was more than a little afraid of what would happen if the witch won, he could not help watching the duel with excitement. It was fantastic!

 

Both Jeff and Katherine transformed into strange and frightening creatures, each more deadly than the next. Sometimes it was comical, like when Jeff changed into a goat and butted Katherine across a clearing, but at other times it was truly horrifying. Jensen thought it was over when Katherine transformed into a purple dragon, despite rules that she could not become any make-believe creatures, and her hands closed around Jeff. But the magician disappeared! Before Katherine could become truly enraged, Jeff’s voice could be heard, explaining that he had transformed into a germ. Jensen wasn’t sure what a germ was, but it made Katherine very ill indeed.

 

As they returned home after getting Katherine into bed and providing her with some medicine, Jeff turned to ask Jensen what he had learned. Pondering on it for a while, Jensen answered, “To let others help me when I cannot handle something on my own. And that while cheating might give you an unfair advantage, you can play the game fairly and still win, with your honor intact.”

 

Jeff was obviously taken aback. He spluttered for a few seconds, and then laughed. “Well, I was only trying to teach you the principles of flight, but that will definitely do.”

 

And from that moment, Jeff began to look at Jensen in a very different way.

 

*

 

Their next adventure was equally exciting. Jeff took Jensen to a pond and transformed them both into fish. For an hour or so, Jensen had his eyes opened to the wonderful world that existed beyond the eyes of ordinary people. Who knew that the armor Kay had once thrown into the pond in a fit of temper could become a home for aquatic creatures? Or that zig-zagging through fluttering fronds could be so much fun?

 

But soon enough, the game turned dark. A huge pike came after them, and when he tried to make them full-size, Jeffrey somehow managed to trap himself in Kay’s suit of armor. As Jensen tried wildly to dodge the pike, he looked for a place to hide. But he could not see anything within reach. A shadow appeared overhead, and suddenly large talons appeared out of nowhere and plucked Jensen out of the water and to safety.

 

Jeff finally managed to make himself larger, and swam out of the pond. He quickly transformed Jensen as well, and they set off for home, after Jensen formally and graciously thanked the hazel-eyed owl for rescuing him. On the way, Jeff repeated the question he had asked after the Katherine incident.

 

Again, Jensen thought about it for a couple of minutes. “I learned to always be aware of threats, because danger can come from nowhere even in the most peaceful of surroundings.” Then, waiting a beat, he continued, “And I learned how to swim.”

 

*

 

The third adventure was the most painful. It began when Jeffrey transformed them both into squirrels. As they scampered up a tree, Jensen began to wonder what he could hope to learn from this. Perhaps it was how _not_ to fall out of trees…

 

Soon, they were met by another couple of squirrels, a mother and daughter. As the mother chased Jeffrey around, apparently eager for a new husband, the daughter and Jensen began to play. It took the young squirrel three tree-to-tree leaps to realize that the daughter was after the same thing as her mother; she was just more subtle about it.

 

Not being the slightest bit interested in starting a relationship with a squirrel, Jensen tried to nicely let her down, but it turned out that he could not speak squirrel and the squirrel could not speak English. She  was very sweet, and kept trying to offer him nuts and work out what he was trying to say.

 

Jeffrey kept trying to escape the mother, but she was fiercely dedicated to the idea of finding a mate. Finally, when she grabbed his tail, he lost his temper and took back his natural form. The mother squirrel began to throw nuts at him and scold him angrily; her daughter did not take Jensen’s transformation so easily. When he became larger, she hid and chattered sadly, breaking his heart. He thought he even saw her cry, and his heart ached for her.

 

“Well,” Jeff began, but that was too much for Jensen.

 

“Why are you doing this?” He asked in something approaching a roar, but even he could hear the tears in the back of his throat. “Why are you teaching me all of this?”

 

A tear ran down Jeff’s cheek, showing that he, too, was not unmoved. “Because I cannot give you so much power without showing you how easy it is to hurt people, that your actions have consequences. And so help me, I cannot entrust the fate of a people in a child’s hands without knowing that the child is capable of as much compassion and care as he is greatness.”

 

“Greatness? Power? I want to be a squire! I want to be able to carry armor around and prove myself so that someday, if I’m lucky, I may become a knight! That does _not_ require becoming a fish or a bird or a squirrel, so that I learn that I have the power to break another squirrel’s heart.”

 

Jeff grabbed him, suddenly furious. “I have much more in mind for you than to be a bearer of arms, young Jensen. You will be a king, but not a king like the kings before you. You will be a great one, and your legacy will inspire leaders hundreds and thousands of years in the future."

 

“No!” Jensen pulled away in shock. “I don’t want to be anything other than a squire. I’m not inspiring or great, and I don’t have it in me to lead anyone! But I _can_ be a good squire.”

 

“A squire!” Jeff scoffed.

 

“Don’t look down upon it. There’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, if I, an orphan, become a squire, I've done very well for myself. I’m not supposed to get anything better than that, and I’m pretty lucky to even have an opportunity for that. I can’t be king, so stop trying to make me one!”

 

“Why, you ungrateful child!” Jeff stormed for a few minutes, muttering things that Jensen couldn’t quite understand, his temper growing worse and worse. He followed Jared’s example and retreated with the owl as smoke began to come out of Jeff’s ears. Finally, shouting something on the lines of “Blow me to Bermuda!” Jeff flew up and disappeared.

 

“Jeff?” Jensen asked quaveringly. “Jared, where has he gone?”

 

The owl shrugged, in what was a very human gesture. “I don’t know. I never know.”

 

*

That night, a visitor came to Sir Ector’s home. As there was no more magic, Jensen struggled to get the cooking done and serve the men while avoiding Kay’s dogs and dealing with vociferous complaints. Still, he got to hear some of what was going on.

 

“Well, it’s been thirteen years since Uther of Pendragon died, hasn’t it? And no one’s been able to extract Excalibur, though thousands of Knights have gone to London to try. We’ve descended into lawlessness, haven’t we? So it’s been decided to have a jousting tournament, and the winner will be King!”

 

“A jousting tournament?” repeated Sir Ector. Turning to his son, he ran an appraising eye over him. “Well, and Kay’s one of the best jousters we’ve seen, isn’t he?”

 

“One of the best,” the visitor agreed.

 

Sir Ector slapped his hand on the table, just as Jensen was picking up the last stack. They wobbled, but he managed to hold on to them. “Then, that settles it! Kay, you’re going to London to try to be King. Wart, you will be his squire!”

 

“Squire?” Jensen squeaked, and promptly fell over, dishes and all.

 

*

 

The next day, Jensen rushed around, trying to make sure he had packed everything. Before he had checked the armor, he was grabbed by his furious foster father. “We have to be in London by nightfall, Wart, and we don’t have time for this. Get into the carriage.” Not seeing a choice, he held his hand out for the owl to perch upon and perched on the wheel by the door.

 

“Get rid of that ruddy owl, boy! Not going to take it into a lodging house, are we?”

 

Jensen looked at Jared in horror, but the owl winked at him and flew away.

 

When he got to London, there was a mad scramble and Jensen found himself pushed around every which way. Not for the first time, he wished he was a lot larger. Luckily, just before he was trampled by a carriage, a boy about his own age pulled him out of the way. “Jensen, come over here!”

 

The boy dragged him to the side, and sighed, but Jensen was a little wary. “Who are you? And how do you know my name?”

 

“Well, don’t you recognize me? Especially since I’ve been making a habit out of pulling you to safety!”

 

Jensen looked closer at those curious words. Who was this dark-haired boy who was so much taller than him? Then, he noticed those lovely hazel eyes, and knew at once. “Jared?” he whispered. “How did you become a boy? Is Jeff here?”

 

“No!” Jared grinned. “This is me! I’m training with Jeff too; I’m Jared Lancelot, and I can take any form I want! I’m not so good at the rest of magic though, and all those other normal things like reading and writing, and Jeff wants me to learn them all.”

 

Jensen was going to ask more questions, but he was interrupted by Sir Ector. “Wart! Wart! Confound it all, where is that boy?”

 

“Have to run!”

 

Jared grabbed his arm. “I’m coming with you, not letting you out of my sight!”

 

Sir Ector frowned but did not object to the presence of the taller boy. He ordered Jensen to get Kay ready for his jousting tournament immediately. “He’ll be on in a minute!”

 

It was while he was gathering all of Kay’s things that catastrophe struck. “Oh Morgan, I’ve forgotten the sword! Sir Ector is going to kill me, and Kay won’t get to joust!” He began to panic.

 

“Wait, as I was flying here, I saw a sword very close to this field. It was sheathed in a stone for some reason, but it looked like it was made of steel and fine to use! Besides, it isn’t as if they are going to be fencing!” Jared’s face lit up with excitement. “Come on, I’ll take you there!”

 

They ran down a street and came to a square with a round stone at the center and, just as Jared had said, what looked like a good, strong sword in the middle of it. There was some writing on the hilt, but it was in old script and Jensen’s lessons with Jeff had not progressed that far.

 

When Jensen grabbed it, there was a strange light that seemed to come from the sky and shine upon him, and he thought he heard music. He balked for a second or two, but then remembering the urgency, he screwed up his courage and pulled it out. It was heavy, and he could not stand straight when it was out of the stone, but it came out smoothly and it was obviously of the finest quality.

 

He ran back, and managed to get to Kay before Sir Ector blew a gasket. But the young man realized it was not his sword immediately. “Here, what is this? Whose sword have you brought me?”

 

“Oh, give me that!” Sir Ector grabbed it and examined it. “Nonsense, whose sword…” But the father’s sharp eyes lit upon the engraved words in the beautifully crafted weapon, and he gasped. “Why, this is Excaliber!”

 

“Excaliber!”

 

“The sword in the stone!”

 

“Why, someone has pulled the sword from the stone!”

 

As people began to shout, Jensen edged away, his only instinct to run. But Sir Ector grabbed him, and though Jared stood stalwart by his side, he thought he was going to die. “Please sir, I didn’t steal it. I saw it in a square, and thought it was abandoned. It was on its own, stuck in a stone.”

 

“In a stone? Do you mean to say you’ve pulled it out?” An older gentleman came up to him and looked at him closely.

 

“Him? Nonsense, this is Wart, our Squire!” Sir Ector, becoming nervous himself, tried to bluster his way out of the matter.

 

But they would not let him. The crowd bore them all to the park where Jared had seen the sword. The shape-shifter allowed himself to be carried alongside his friend and, reaching over, tucked his hand into his own. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “We’ll stick together.”

 

When they got there, they had Jensen return the sword to its old place, and pull it out again. Then they had him stick it in the rock again so that other knights could try to pull it out, but it would not budge.

 

“Morgan,” a man in the crowd whispered. “The legend is true—only one man can pull the sword out of the stone.”

 

The woman closest to Jensen looked at him with tears in her eyes. “Why then, this boy is the rightful King of England.”

 

“What is his name?”

 

Sir Ector stopped and searched his brain. He couldn’t say Wart, but that was what he had called the boy for so long that in the excitement, he could not remember his ward’s name. Then, distantly, it came to him. “Arthur!”

 

“Arthur?”

 

“Long like King Arthur!”

 

As the shouts reverberated around the park, Jensen was far too caught up in his own shock and fear to correct them. Besides, he didn’t mind going by his middle name. Arthur was a lot better than Wart. He glanced around him wildly, and caught sight of Jared. The other boy was pale and shaking, but he gave him a smile that told him as clearly as if he had spoken that he would stick by him.

 

*

 

Some weeks later, Jared and Jensen were chasing each other around the palace. Finally, Jensen was caught up by his friend and dangled over a pond. “Uncle, uncle!” he cried, almost laughing too hard to say the words.

 

Jared was in a similar condition, and when he let Jensen fall on the bank, he collapsed by his side. As their laughter faded, Jared leaned over and brushed Jensen’s hair out of his eyes.

 

Jensen felt unaccountably warm, but he couldn’t move. “You have really pretty eyes, brown with green flecks in them,” he said, blushing at how idiotic he sounded.

 

Jared blushed too, and then pushed himself up. “Race you to the castle!” he cried, and then set off.

 

“Where does that boy get that energy from?” A familiar voice spoke from quite close by, and Jensen rose with a shout.

 

“Jeff!”

 

And Jeffrey stood there, smiling at him and wearing short pants in ridiculously bright colors that showed an indecent amount of hairy leg. “So you’re finally in your rightful place, boy? And ready to learn all that I have to teach? Or do you think that now you are King, you are capable of handling all this on your own?”

 

“Oh no,” Jensen said in horror. “I remember your lessons, and I know what I’m capable of. I think, I know, that I can be a good King, because a good King knows that he can and should ask for help.”

 

As Jeff put his arm around the boy and walked him back to the palace, he hugged him close for a minute. “I’m glad to hear you say that. And while I can provide you with advice, you should think about setting up a council of some sort. Representatives from around the kingdom can come and talk to you every day, as you all sit as equals at a rectangular table.”

 

“But it’s harder to hear people on a square table. Maybe it should be round…”

 

THE END


End file.
